News & Public Affairs

Medicare expert: end-of-life counseling issue wildly distorted listen

Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Medicaid, Medicare, senior citizens

In the past week, controversy over a particular provision in a House bill to overhaul the health care system has been dominating the headlines.

The provision would require Medicare to pay physicians to counsel patients once every 5 years. During those sessions, doctors could discuss how patients can plan for such end-of-life decisions as setting up a living will, obtaining hospice care or establishing a proxy to make their health decisions when they are unable to do so.

Yesterday Iowa ...

Medicare payments stop during fraud investigation listen

Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Medicare, Barack Obama

This afternoon in St. Petersburg, about 50 patients came together at the medical clinic where they had been receiving help to demand that Medicare resume paying for their medical treatments. Because of an investigation into alleged fraud, Medicare has stopped all payments to the Advanced Medical Therapy Institute.

A dozen of the patients spoke about how the non-traditional treatment they’ve received at Advanced Medical has helped them fight their cancers and other afflictions.

Mary Bur...

Medicare tour stops in Sun City Center listen

Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Medicare

People who qualify for Medicare health coverage have until Dec. 31 to change their plan during the fall open enrollment.

To publicize this opportunity, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are sponsoring a Medicare bus tour called “Working Together for Better Health.”

At a tour stop his morning in Sun City Center, Dr. Richard Wild, who is chief medical officer of the CMS in the Atlanta region, encouraged the 30 or so se...